Keyboard and accessories



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March 1, 1955 H. A. JEWETT KEYBOARD AND ACCESSORIES 17 Sheets-Sheet 16Original Filed Jan. 15, 1951 INVENTUR March 1, 1955 H. A. JEWETTKEYBOARD AND ACCESSORIES ,7 Sheets-Sheet 17 Original Filed Jan. 15. 1951INVENTOR United States Patent 23,956 KEYBOARD AND ACCESSORIES Harold A.Jewett, Washington, D. C.

Original No. 2,675,729, dated April 20, 1954, Serial No. 206,100,January 15, 1951. Application for reissue July 21, 1954, Serial No.444,936

25 Claims. (Cl. 84-424) Matter enclosed in heavy brackets appears in theoriginal patent but forms no part oi this reissue specification; matterprinted in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

own tone producer connections to serve as independent auxiliary key ardsin proximity to, e. g. overlying the rear portion of, a manual of a hostinstrument.

Conventional piano and organ keys ordinarily reciprousually less thanhalf that at the front, say, of a white ivory, consequently calling formore than double the amount of finger force to yield a given volume ofpiano Various prior art solutions have been offered for this disparityper se, but none it ulk and weight as well, via inherent and markedlessening of the overall front to rear dimension requirements of theinstrument. boThie ordinary piano or organ manual has a riser, f allwithout locating the auxiliary of such structure, thereby occasioningaggravated need for improved ivory drop or touch equalization in theircase. d the situation is still further aggravated when the auxiliarykeys are used as transposer (hereinafter abbreviated to tr.) keys totransmit finger pressure to host ivories via prior art devices in theform of leveling up" pins, flexure or analogous structures placedpverhost white ivories ate motion, and is conducive to wear, noise, etc.

Prior art supports for auxiliary tr. or other keyboards have generallyentailed more or less alteration, derangement and/or defacement ofexternal host casing or console surfaces (console" being used herein todesignate the casing structure surrounding or adjacent the manual pianoor cent development.

As used herein "rearward," back," or etc., and frontward," forward, oretc., will have reference to the manual or console rather than to theplayer or his flng ers.

Along with the objects stated in the parent apphcaucna Re. 23,956Reissues! Mar. 1, 1955 the invention has as objects the provision ofnovel means or novel combinations of means:

To remedy the foregoing and other shortcomings ol: the prior art;

To avoid or lessen the degree of counterclockwise (as viewed from thetreble end of the keyboard) arcuateness of drop of points of fingerpressure on conventional tr. key ivories, where such drop approacheszero in amount as the distance from such points to the fulcrums of thekeys lessens;

To impart to tr. keys appreciable drop at the rear of the front to rearaxes of their ivory topped portions in at the rear of their ivories;

To impart to tr. ivories a drop at their rear, in response to downpressure thereon, equal to V3 (advantageously as, is or more) themaximum drop along the ivories;

To both locate white tr. ivory rears less than about (advantageously 5 4or less) of the vertical plane in which on the ivory rears; To impart topiano and organ keys generally, Whether or not tr. ones and particularlythose white keys having ivory lengths of at ivory, in response topressure on it, essentially either vertical or comprises laterallyand/or rearwardly facing arcuateness or convexity;

To communicate down motion of ivories to tone actuator contact elementsin such manner that simple shifting of a bench of the ivories inchromatic, hereinafter abbreviated to increments along a bench of suchelements will provide for automatic transposition, with the line of therears of they also function as key returners friction and sticking ofaction parts, and

as manuals (manual" or keypressure etc. being used herepedals, footpressure etc., unless To noisiness of pedals as well board," ivory,klfingeril in to include pedalboard, otherwise apparent);

To efiect automatic pedalboard transposition;

To use keyboards of pre-built instruments as racks, and

having tion with them;

To removably secure auxiliary keyboards (whether independent or tr.) orsegments of them (if desired with longitudinal extensibility sufficientfor adjustment to any shifting of host grand piano keyboards incident touse of their soft pedals;

To use the collective holdup force of host keys not only to sustainauxiliary tr. keyboards or segments of them but also to sustain upstopand/or downstop members common to the latters keys;

To facilitate the piloting of auxiliary keyboards or segments of theminto desired positions along host manuals;

To provide for installation and/ or de-installation of such keyboards onordinary pianos and organs generally, by a minimum of simplemovementsoptionally by just one;

To use wall surfaces of host casings and/or keys as anchor means toprevent longitudinal and/or front to rear displacement, as well astilting. of such keyboards:

To provide antifriction or self-lubricating surfacing (e. g. of nylon)at bearing and moving contact areas, thus giving them susbtantiallyendless mechanical life without need for lubrication or other servicing.

To provide portable auxiliary keyboards characterized by ruggedness anddurability and comprising materials of high strength-to-weight ratio andar and corrosion resistance, for withstanding vigorous p aying over longperiods of use;

To supply a case for protecting auxiliary keyboards or portions of themduring non-use; and

To provide keyboard instruments comprising in-built benches of toneactuators and in-built benches of keys operatively associated with them,said instruments embodying the novel action and space economies of theinvention.

Other objects will appear below.

The objects of the invention are accomplished by use of means describedor identified herein and/or in the parent applications. e. g. asfollows:

Achievement of the objects relative to tr. key actions may beaccomplished by so fulcruming the [tn] keys laterally and/or forwardlyand/or upwardly of the loci of usual key lever fulcrums that whenpressure is exerted on their rears to secure a desired amount of drop ofsuch rears it is accompanied by lessening or avoidance of thecounter-clockwise (viewed from treble) or forward arcing thatcharacterizes the usual ivory drop; or so that such drop follows a paththat is essentially either vertical or clockwisely (viewed from treble)arcuate, or laterally and/or rearwardly arcuate or convex in nature. Asan illustration, the ivories may be carried by keys fulcrumed forwardlyso as to have axes of rotation frontwardly of and parallel to thekeyboard with pressure on the rears of the ivories producing an evengreater drop than at their fronts. Or novel use of prior art "parallelmotion mechanisms may be made.

Achievement of the objects of the invention relative to piano and organkey actions generally may also be accomplished by use of keys fulcrumedas just stated, or by mounting the ivories on the "handles" ofcrank-like or cane-like keys which, while pivoted for imparting freereciprocation to the ivories, are nevertheless up-stopped, down-stopped,distortion-proofed (by inherent rigidity. supplemented againstextraordinary forces by appropriate wall structure) and clearanced foroperatively contacting tone actuator elements and/or key returnersassociated with them.

Achievement of susbidiary tr. key action objects is exemplified byapplication of drop equalization directly to levelizers, so that onmerely setting a bench of loosely captive form-fit tr. keys down on abench of the levelizers. the keys ride as motionless passengers on. andthus receive drop equalization derivativelv from them. Or the tr. keysmay carry flex finger levelizers loosely pivotally connected to theirbellies in manner to either serve as downpushers on host whites or beflexed out of the way by host blacks. merely via feeding of the benchinto position at any desired position along a host manual. Or levelizersof the prior art may be used. but prefably with rollers or rockerssupplied at downpusher contacts.

Achievement of the objects of the invention relative to key actions forauxiliary keyboards to be disposed directly above and operativelv clearof the rears of host manuals may be accomplished in general by use ofany actions in which the keys are fulcrumed forwardly of a verticalplane located less than the length of their white ivories(advantageously not more than $6 or A such length, and preferably not toany substantial extent at all) to the rear of and parallel to thevertical plane in which the rears of such white ivories lie.

Achievement of the objects of the invention relative to portablesupports involves the provision of either a single frame carrying itsown support portions for seating on host instrument or other basestructure or a fixed frame plus one or more shiftable frames based on it(any of such frames optionallv being in sectional units or segmentswhich may be united by longitudinal members having extensibility,stretchability, flexibility and/or elasticity as desired). Pilot spacermeans in the form of downwardly reaching relatively thickribs to overlieor seat on host white ivory rears and be closely flanked by rearportions til) of the sides of adjacent host black ivories, and/or thinprojections, ribs or fins to freely penetrate selected key-tokey seamsin the host manual, advantageously are provided at one or moreintermediate loci along the frames, not only to facilitate placement ofthe frames in selected positions relative to the host manual but also,in the case of tr. keyboards, to make the host 12 seams serve per se asa ready index for transposition; also to provide security againstdisplacement.

Foundation support may be derived from external console structure, e. g.the usual end or side cheek structure and/or front rail and rear riser,or via bracing of frame parts between said rail and riser, or leveringthem up under the riser with the front rail or key bottom as a fulcrumto provide firm support frontwardly of such fulcrum, or up-locking (e.g. by means inserted through key seams) of host keys underlying terminalportions of the auxiliary frames, or removal of one or more of such keysto expose key bottom for use as a base, and/or etc., but generally it ispreferred to minimize or entirely obviate all intercontact with externalconsole structure as well as all sacrifice or impairment of host keysfunctioning while concomitantly providing security against displacement,as by using a multiplicity of support fins so thin as to fit loosely inhost key-to-key or other scams yet so numerous as to provide abundantcumulative support, either via strut-like contact with host key bottomand/ or lever-like fulcruming thereon as aforesaid. Advantageouslystainless steel, stifi plastic (e. g. Vinylite) or the like is used forsuch fins, with re-enforcement via cross tie pieces.

Where substantial or total support is derived from collective hold-upforce of host keys, rearward and downward locating of the framescenter-ofgravity line, plus lightening of overall frame weight, may beadvantageous.

Since adaptations of the tr. key actions and associated parts toportable keyboards involves the same general principles as when they arein-built into instruments, except for added complexities due to theextra heights of black ivories of conventional hosts, the irregularshapes of their white ivories, etc., and since mere simplificationtherefore is generally all that is essential for convertingillustrations of such adaptations into illustrations of inbuiltembodiments, most of the below drawings relative to the novel actions oraction combinations will be of portable tr. keyboards or assocaitedparts. And since provision of supports for such keyboards is a primaryneed, the drawings will deal first with such supports.

in the drawings (in respect to which suitable key returners and toneproducer installations, if not shown, are to be understood as impliedwhen needed; moving and bearing parts as being optionally subject tomodification to give them or enhance their individual replaceability;lever, spring or other moving parts as provided, when needed, withsuitable freedom of play and appropriate stop, antibacklash, damperand/or sound-absorbing means; all parts as having fitting anchorages orhousing; all figures as being basically diagrammatic or schematic; andall expressions such as vertical, horizontal, downward, upward, lateral,longitudinal, etc., as being relative and approximate unless otherwiseevident), to be more particularly described later on:

Figs. 1-32 are directed mainly to supports or elements of supports forthe auxiliary keyboards of the invention; Figs. 33-91 to actions orelements of actions usable in them; Figs. 92-95 to pilot means for usein their installation; Fi 96 to a portable protective case for them; andFigs. 97 911-100 to inbuilt tr. keyboard ensembles.

More particularly:

In Figs. 1-7, which illustrate conventional piano, organ and pedal keysand keyboard structure plus the seams comprised therein that may beavailed of in the practice of the invention, Figs. 1-2 are plan andfront elevations of base end portions of ordinary iano or organ manuals,Fig. 3 is a treble end elevation ereof, Fig. 4 is an end elevation of apair of manuals arranged as in an ordinary plural-manual pipe organ, andFigs. 5-7 are respectively analogous to Figs. 1-3 except for depictingan ordinary pedalboard rather than a manual keyboard;

Fig. 8 is a schematic plan showing areas overlying or frontward of aconventional host manual which entail varying problems in respect ofsecurity of placement of the supports of the invention;

Fig. 9 is a front elevation detail of a seafiold e of support using amultiplicity of thin ribs or fins, motionless in use and adapted toreach down through host manual seams to act as spacers and/or struts;

Fig. 10 is a front elevation detail of a type of support generallyanalogous to that of Fig. 9 but which uses thicker ribs to reach downinto space alongside host black ivories and overlying host white ones;

Figs. 11-12 are end elevations of devices for combinedly trans1-.ittingcollective hold-up force of chromatic sequences of both black and whitehost keys to support platforms;

Fig. 13 is a plan of Fig. 12;

Figs. 14-15 are end elevation and plan of a p support sections, adaptedto be mutually overlapped to give any of a variety of overall front torear dimensions; 16-16 Fig. 16 is a diagrammatic section on the line ofFig.

Fig. 17 is an enlarged detail showing a portion of the host structure ofFig. 3;

In Figs. 18-24, which illustra action, Figs. 21-2 two varieties ofsupports so braced via self-adjustably in the manner of inside Figs.23-24 are plan and front elevation details of a particular type of screwmeans suitable for adjustably efiecting such bracing;

Figs. 25-27 are respectively front and end elevations and plan of asupport frame in position for use, which frame carries platforms novelmodifications tr. keys (the latter Fig. 33 is an end elevation detail ofof certain prior art levelizers carrying exaggerated) Fig 34 is a sidedetail of a form of flex finger levelizer carrying tr. key.

Figs. 35-37 are respectively end and front elevations and plan (withaxled rear portions omitted in Figs. 36-37) of a pair of prior art swingarm key levers modified to provide identical form-fitting cradles forthe tr. keys shown in Fig. 35 (but not in Figs. 36-37), the

tion solely from that of the lower one;

Fig. 38 is an end elevation detail of a modified portion of the tr. keysand levelizers structure of Fig. 35;

Figs. 39-49 are schematic representations of various types of keyactions, a number of them believed novel per se, which are adaptable ashereinafter detailed for use in the practice of the invention;

Fig. 50 is an end elevation of a host keyboard provided with a tr.keyboard embodying the Fig. 40 type of key action as well as the two-plyprinciple of Fig. 35;

Fig. 51 is a plan of the tr. keyboard of Fig. 50 with upper front andrear frame structure and levelizers omitted;

Fig. 52 is a tions of their frame;

Fig. 53 is a side elevation detail of the rear of the Fig. 50 tr. keysand their frame;

plan of the levelizers of Fig. 50 and por- Fig. 54 is a correspondingdetail of the rear of the Fig. 52 levelizers and their frame;

Fig. 55 is a section on the line 55-55 of Fig. 50;

Fig. 56 is a section on the line 56-46 of Fig. 50;

Fig. 57 is a front elevation detail of the spring-supported front endsof the levelizers of Fig. 52;

Fig. 58 is section of complementary slot and vane stabilizer structuresrespectively carried by the Figs. 50-52 keys and levelizers;

Fig. 59 is an end elevation of a host keyboard protr. keyboard embodyingthe Fig. 41 type vided with a of key action;

Fig. 60 is a diagrammatic detail of the front joints of the Fig. 59 tr.key action;

of the upper rear and connections Fig. 61 is a corresponding detail thelower rear in Fig. 60;

joint and connections of said key action, joint and connections beingthe same as Fig. 62 is an end elevation of a host keyboard provided witha tr. keyboard embodying the Fig. 42 type of key action;

Figs. 63 and 64 are side elevation details of modified forms of the Fig.62 type of key;

Fig. 65 is a plan diagram of a pair of Fig. 64 keys with their ivory topportions omitted;

Fig. 66 is an end elevation of a host keyboard provided with a tr.keyboard embodying the Fig. 43 type of key action;

Figs. 67-68 are respectively plan and front elevation details of keyequalizer and action portions of Fig. 66, but with ivory and certaincasing parts omitted from Fig. 67 and casing parts omitted from Fig. 68;

Fig. 69 is a plan detail on the line 69-69 of Fig. 66;

Figs. 70-71 are diagrammatic plan and side elevation details of analternative design of fulcrum and anchorage structure for the equalizersof Fig. 66, outside casing structure being omitted in Fig. 70;

Fig. 72 is a diagrammatic plan of a further such alternative design;

Fig. 73 is an end elevation of a host keyboard provided with a tr.keyboard embodying the Fig. 44 type of key action as well as the two-plyor cradled key principle of Fig. 35;

Fig. 74 is a plan, on reduced scale, of two illustrative pairs of theFig. 73 levelizers, their equalizers being disposed in accordance withthe nesting plus clearancing and reverse tiering principles developed in512 and '135;

Fig. 75 is a reduced scale front elevation detail on line 75-75 of Fig.73, of certain of the Fig. 74 parts;

Figs. 76-79 are reduced scale details on lines 76-76; 77-77; 78-78; and79-79, respectively, of Fig. 73, Figs. 76-78 being plan and Fig. 79elevation;

and the one particularly exemplified in Figs. 54-55 of 512, besidesusing the pivotally suspended flex finger levelizers of 424 inoptionally relatively large size;

Fig. 81 is a form of the front portion of Fig. modified to embody theFig. 45 type of key action;

Fig. 82 is an elevation on the line 82-82 of Fig. 83 of a hostpedalboard provided with the Fig. 49 type of pedalboard transposeraction, which in turn embodies the two-ply or laminated key principle ofFig. 35;

Fig. 83 is a section on line 83-83 of Fig. 82;

Fig. 84 is a plan detail of a g-fiat to gat octave-long embodiment ofthe Fig. 82 tr. pedalboard;

Fig. 85 is an enlarged front elevation of one of the host black pedalsof Fig. 83 and the levelizer and tr. pedal members in position over it,said members being confined within adjacent chute-forming structure andequipped with optional rollers;

Fig. 86 is a side elevation of the pedal members and leverizer of Fig.85 but with the chute structure omitted;

Figs. 87-88 are end and front elevations of an independent auxiliarykeyboard sustained solely by collective hold-up force of host pipe organkeys, and adapted in contour to seat on the rear of the host manualwithout interference from either the usual registration pistons or theaction of overhanging keys of the manual next above;

Fig. 89 is a diagrammatic front elevation of an independent auxiliarykeyboard positioned froutwardly of a host manual and having spacer finsextending rearwardly from its frame into seams of the latter;

Fig. 90 is a plan diagram of the combination shown

